John 1:6-8, 19-28
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be bornwill be called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week, I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, song, epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Gospel reading for Sunday, December 24, comes from Luke chapter one, verses 26 through 38. In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, Greetings, oh, favored one, the Lord is with you. But she was greatly troubled at the sang and tried to discern what sort of grieving this might been. And the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, For you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, He will be great. And we called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom, there will be no end. And Mary said to the angel, How will this be since I am a virgin? And the angel answered her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth, in her old age, has also conceived a son. And this is the sixth month with her who was called barren, for nothing will be impossible with God. And Mary said, Behold, I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me, according to your word. And the angel departed from her appearance, the reading. This is the classic annunciation story. It is such a treasured piece of the gospel, where the angel Gabriel appears to marry. And so let's begin with what the angel says, says greetings, oh, favored one, the Lord is with you. Now, many of you may be familiar with an older version where it says hail Mary full of grace. One might ask, what's the difference between a translation that reads Oh favored one, and one that means full of grace, full of grace points us to a quality that Mary has. The angel comes down looks at Mary and says, Mary, look at you, aren't you wonderful? Oh, favorite one is different. It is, Mary. There's something that God favors God favors you. God is looking on you with favor. Now full of grace means that Mary is chosen because she's extra special. Oh, favorite one means Mary has chosen because she's chosen. And Luther likes to point this out when he talks about the magnificant. The song that Mary sings, is that Mary was really not all that different from any one of us, is that she rejoiced in God not because she was extra Grace filled or she was amazing as a human. But because God had decided to choose her for this amazing moment, to bear his one and only son. Now, the honor that we give to her is definitely an honor higher than any other human beings, a of Jesus Christ himself. But still, it is only God's grace and his choosing. That makes Mary this special. Now, Mary responds, the text says, but she was greatly troubled at the saying and trying to discern what sort of greeting this might be. I have to say if an angel appeared to me after freaking out, and if it said, Greetings, oh, favorite one, the Lord is with you. I would also be troubled. I wouldn't know what is going on. Because when an angel appears, you know something dramatic is going to happen. So the angel comfort Sir, do not be afraid, Mary For you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus. So here again, the angel after calming her down, do not be afraid Mary says you have found favor with God. God has given you this favor. And behold, you will have a child and you will call His name Jesus. Now Jesus means he saves it or Yahweh Saves. It's actually the word for Joshua, which was used in the Old Testament that we transliterated as Jesus because of weirdness in history. The annual goes on, he will be great, and we call the Son of the Most High, I'd say, that's great, being the Son of the Most High, he wasn't just called Son of the Most High, he was actually the Son of the Most High. And he continues, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father, David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom, there will be no end. Now we know why the Old Testament reading for this week was chosen from the promise, the covenant given to David is because the Gospel reading is the fulfillment of that promise, the angel appears to Mary and says, King David, his child, his offspring, will come from you. And that offspring will reign over the house of Jacob forever. How is that possible? How can anyone reign over a house over a kingdom forever? Well, if you are the Son of God, perhaps you just might be able to do it then. Because when Jesus is both human and divine, his humanity can live forever, can be eternal. And so Jesus will be on that throne forever. Now, of course, Mary is puzzled, she says, How will this be since I am a virgin? And the angel answered her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. That's it. No big deal. Holy Spirit's gonna come, he'll handle it. Isn't that nuts? Like, oh, okay, that's fine. Now, the angel gives some evidence to support this, but just a little more than just evidence, and it says, And behold, your relative Elizabeth, in her old age has also conceived a son. And this is a six month for her who is called parent for nothing will be impossible with God. So I bet it's likely that Mary had heard that Elizabeth had had a child. And this would be a ping of evidence like, yep, you know, God has done this, God can do that. But there's also an interesting thing here is that not only is the angel saying, Yep, look at this, God has done something amazing with Elizabeth, who was called barren. But it's also look, you've got someone who you can go to for this. When I have to give this insight. I heard it from David Schmidt. At a podcast, he suggested that not God offered up this connection, so that Mary could go to Elizabeth and find someone who understands what's happening. Because she also had an angelic miracle with Gabrielle. And Elizabeth, receives Mary right after this. So Mary finds out she's pregnant, and she goes down to visit Elizabeth and Elizabeth Baby John, the Baptist leaps in her womb, because he's filled with the Holy Spirit. And then they sing the Magnificat. And it's amazing and wonderful. And Mary spends all this time with Elizabeth, probably because I don't know, being a virgin with a baby. At that time, nobody would really leave you. You know, if if someone got pregnant and said, Well, I didn't do anything. I just did just happen. I wouldn't believe them either. Be pretty isolating. But Elizabeth is there for her. But then comes the most amazing part. And Mary said, Behold, I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word. Wow. Imagine hearing this news, your, your young girl 1614, whatever it is, that she would have been an angel appears and said, You're going to have a baby, he's going to be God. And it's going to be from the Holy Spirit. And she's like, yep, awesome. Let's do it. What a sign of faith. I you know, I said before that Mary was just like one of us and she was as like, just like a human. But at the same time, God had granted her such faith that she could simply accept what the angel said. Remember, Zachariah, he was in the temple, and the angel appeared to him and gave him a promise that Elizabeth would have a baby and he was like, No way. But Mary, simple girl. Yep. Let's do it. Wow. May we have that kind of faith? That's all I have for today. We'll see you On Sunday bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai